New gas projects may turn Nigeria from an oil to a gas giant

These are the planned extension of the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP) to Cote d’Ivoire, the East-West Offshore Gas Gathering System (EWOGGS) and the Trans Saharan Gas Pipeline. The three projects valued at over $15 billion will create thousands of new jobs, spur domestic gas demand, create an opportunity to diversify the revenue of the Nigerian government, strengthen the country’s revenue base and turn Nigeria into a dominant geopolitical player in Africa, using its gas resources, just like Russia or Qatar.

The extension of the 678-kilometre pipeline; WAGP from Ghana to Cote d’Ivoire will create new markets for Nigeria’s gas to a country yearning to improve gas-to-power constraints for its people and profit from electricity exports to its neighbours. For EWOGGS, Dangote Industries Limited in partnership with First E&P are behind the project that aims to connect stranded gas resources in the East and along its trajectory with the domestic gas demand in the West through a 3 billion cubic feet per day of open-access offshore gas pipeline system.

The $12 billion Trans Saharan Gas Pipeline is a 4,401 kilometres natural gas project to be constructed from Warri, Delta State, Nigeria, to Algeria through Niger Republic, and from Algeria to Spain. The proposed gas pipeline, is to be built through a partnership between the NNPC and Algeria’s Sonatrach. “We believe some of these projects could be quite transformative for the region, especially the West Africa region where preconstruction
work on major gas transmission pipeline projects are expected to commence from 2018,” said Dolapo Oni, head of energy research at Ecobank.